Chapter Text
My first thought when the car hit me, was “Oh, I’m dead, aren’t I?” Not the most positive of thoughts, yeah, I know. But when you get thrown around like some sort of crash test dummy, your odds of survival aren’t exactly great.
But that was besides the point now, because I’ve got one serious question. I can’t feel my body at all—comes with being dead—but I can still think to myself. So, does that mean I’m not actually dead?
That would mean I’m probably just in a hospital bed somewhere. Okay, Subaru, think. Your current options are being paralyzed for life, or being actually dead. Wait, no matter how you look at it, this is completely hopeless!?
Ah, now this is just depressing. If I end up with the first option, I might actually prefer being dead. I do regret not talking to my mom a bit before leaving for the convenience store though—but, it’s kind of impossible to die without regrets.
Hm. Not the best time for sentimental talk, guess I’ll drop it now. But seriously, I’m bored out of my mind right now. There's nothing to do here!
Wait, nothing to do here? I thought I wasn’t anywhere at all. Investigating it a bit further… yeah, wait, I can feel something! Sadly, it’s not some sort of body part, but there was some kind of breeze fluttering around my body.
Wait a second. If I couldn't feel my body, but I could still feel what was around me, and I couldn’t see either, could this mean…?
No. I shouldn’t be too quick with something like that. Sure, I read and watched a bunch of that specific trope a while ago, but it’s not like something that ridiculous could actually happen, right? That's completely and utterly impossible.
But the more I thought about it, nothing else made sense. Looking back, the entire world had gone black a few seconds after I was hit by that car. And then right after that, I started feeling this breezy sensation. If I were in the hospital, there wouldn’t be wind. I’d only feel the terrifyingly slow loss of my life, along with beeping heart monitors and stuff.
So…okay, I’ll come out and say it.
I’ve been reincarnated.
—
A few hours later, and I still don’t have any answers. Whatever I’ve been reincarnated into is still a mystery. But I did get one thing wrong. I’m not blind—I can see. I discovered it only recently, though the method of it is strange.
This world has mana in pretty much everything. I can pick up those signals and sort of translate it into something that resembles sight, though I can’t actually see what it looks like. I get the shape and stuff but… ah, what the hell. It’s all too confusing anyway.
I must be talented though, because I managed it without a hitch. Way to go, me! You're on your way to becoming an overpowered dude who gets underestimated because of his feeble appearance, then wrecks the OP monster that shows up, and gets a harem on the way!
Well, I couldn’t imagine things would go that easy. With my strange version of [Sight], I've discovered my situation as being less than optimal. I’ve been stuck in this desert for this entire time, and I can’t find the edge of it.
Did I get reincarnated into some post apocalyptic world, or something? That’s seriously out of the norm. Looking past that stuff though, I’ve figured out something else that's rather important—or, the absence of what is important.
I don’t have legs, but I can still see the ground directly below me. So I was floating, I guess, which made me really want to know what I am exactly. Some kind of fairy? No, fairies have limbs. I’ll cross that out.
Nevermind, there’s no use brainstorming this just yet. First, I need to not die. The survival rule of three, wasn’t it?
You can survive three weeks without food, three days without water, three hours without shelter, and three minutes without air. That’s how it goes right? Ah, well, all I’ve got is air.
Then again, I didn’t feel all that hungry yet. I did just eat dinner though—actually, does appetite carry over from world to world? Probably not right? If that's the case, why haven't I even gotten a little peckish?
Ah, the woes of trying to figure out what kind of non-human monster, or separate race you’ve been reincarnated as. It would be convenient if I was some kind of plant who just lived from sunlight… actually, that would suck. I don’t wanna be a plant!
But… How do you find food here? Looking around, I can only see sand and other desert stuff. Feels kind of lame. Actually, I shouldn’t have expected anything else.
Well, I should definitely find a way out. So for now I’ll work on that—though I don’t think my level one social skills will do me any good here.
Then, the sand underneath me began to grow restless.
Through my [Sight], I saw something tunnel just underneath me. It rocketed through the sand like a bullet train, then, just up ahead, it burst out from the sand, catching something in its mouth.
What the—some kind of giant worm? Or, since it’s the desert, I guess it would be more appropriate to call it a giant sandworm?! Crap, that's terrifying!! I thought to myself in awe as the giant sandworm dug itself back into the ground.
That confirmed things. There was life in this desert—and it sure as hell wasn’t friendly. At least, I could be thankful it didn’t decide to eat me. Guess I wasn’t a very high priority part of the food chain just yet.
After a few more seconds, I began my slow drift through the desert again, and my body shivered at the thought of whatever was inside of it.
Because if there were more of those worms roaming around… well, to put it simply, they wouldn’t have a hard time swallowing me up. I could only hope that since my body was so small, they wouldn’t bother trying to eat me.
But the circle of life will exist no matter what. And somewhere, someway, something is going to eat me. And when that happens…I don’t think I’m going to get another chance.